Tidal Marshes
Tidal marshes are the grassy
wetlands found along the shorelines and on low-lying islands in
Yaquina Bay. Nourished by a
mixture of fresh and salt
waters that flow over them
V.
at high tide, tidal marshes
are well-known for their
high biological productivity
"' \and for their value as
habitat for fishes, birds,
"'
and other wildlife.
-V ,
The unique plants that
grow in these marshes are
.;
specially adapted to the
twice-daily ebb and flood
-.. .^
of tidal waters. Different
tidal marsh plants
Tufted hairgrass
grow in different
(Deschampsia caespitosa)
locations, depending
on the particular environmental conditions at a
site. This means that there will be a variety of
tidal marsh plant communities in this and most
estuaries.
A plant community found in extensive areas
of Yaquina Bay is known as immature high salt
marsh. As "immature" implies, these areas are
still in the process of building up from lower,
less-developed marshes to higher, more mature
ones.
They occur just about at the level of the
average high tide and so are flooded at least
once a day. Well-defined drainage channels
are just beginning to develop in the immature high salt marsh. The characteristic group of plants that
^rf**-^ pflli
make up this community
includes tufted hairgrass (shown here),
salt grass, arrowgrass,
pickleweed, and
Lyngby's sedge.
California Sea Lion
Dungeness Crab
The Estuary
The raucous barking of "seals" often heard
in Yaquina Bay comes not from seals, but from
the California sea lion. Although closely related
to seals, sea lions are different—they can rotate
their hind flippers forward in order to walk on
all fours.
Sea lions also have external ears, while the
ears of seals are internal. One way to identify
them from a distance is to remember that only
sea lions float on their side in the bay with a
flipper extended in the air.
Earlier in this century, populations of the
California sea lion were reduced as they were
killed for oil and for dog food. Since 1972,
however, they have been protected under the
Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the
species has once again become abundant.
Male California sea lions come north to use
Yaquina Bay for feeding, and can be seen in the
estuary from August to April. During May
through July, the males migrate south to join the
females for breeding on small coastal islands off
Baja California.
Females remain in the
south to give birth to their
young while males return
north again.
California sea lions are
excellent swimmers and
divers, and fishes form a
large portion of their diet,
with lampreys, herring, and
rockfish being among the
most common species
eaten. Sea lions will also
feed on salmon when it's
available, which makes them
unpopular with fishermen—although many scientists believe they do not significantly affect the sports
or commercial catch.
One of the favorite sport catches in Yaquina
Bay and other Oregon estuaries is the
Dungeness crab, the familiar local species seen
in fish markets. While some of the crabs make
their home in estuaries, others live in deeper
water offshore and enter the bays to feed and
molt, especially in early summer.
Some of these offshore dwellers range
widely, sometimes traveling a mile a day. While
in bays, the Dungeness crab frequents protected
shallow pools, sand bottoms, and eelgrass beds.
It also may hide beneath the surface of the sand
with only antennae, eyes, and mouth protruding.
Crab is an opportunistic feeder, feeding on
most fresh food items it encounters on the
bottom, including some small clams.
In order to protect the ability of the population to reproduce, only males that are a certain
minimum size may be kept by crabbers. Males
can be identified by the narrow V-shaped abdominal flap on their underside—females have
a wide U-shaped flap.
Regulations on
size, seasons,
and bag limits
are published and
enforced by
the Oregon
Department
of Fish and
Wildlife—check
them before you
go crabbing.
An estuary, or bay, is a partially enclosed
coastal body of water, open to the ocean, where
freshwater from the land mixes with saltwater
from the sea. This simple meeting of fresh- and
saltwater results in a highly complex and
biologically productive environment for a
variety of plants and animals.
These organisms have special adaptations
that help them cope with the changing salt
content and the ebb and flood of tidal waters.
People have used estuaries for thousands of
years. Today, sport fishing, clamming, boating,
and other forms of recreation are popular here.
Estuaries are also important for shipping and
marine industries, and as homes for our fishing
fleets.
However, these uses are not always compatible with the natural environment. Space is
limited in Oregon's estuaries, and competition
for its use is keen.
Despite their small size, Oregon's estuaries
are important and valuable. They are critical to
hundreds of species of plants, birds, fish, clams,
crabs, and other animals.
California sea lion
(Zolophus cnlifornianus)
Dungeness crab
(Cancer magister)
$1.00
Yaquina Bay
Estuary Public Access Guide
•v .-r
Extension Service, Oregon State University, Corvallis,
O.E. Smith, director. This publication was produced and
distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8
and June 30, 1914. Extension work is a cooperative program
ofOregonStateUniversity, the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
and Oregon counties.
The Extension/Sea Grant Program is supported in part by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce.
Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational
programs, activities, and materials—witlwut regard to race,
color, national origin, set, age, or disability—as required by Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973. Oregon State University Extension Service is an
Equal Opportunity Employer.
f if Ail N irttPp rV -X
vlnitS l/i/fl f/jP Win
SG 84 • Reprinted January 1993
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
OCTENSION SGRVKie
Yaquina Bay
Yaquina Bay, with more than 4,200 acres of
marshes, tide flats, and open water, is the fourthlargest estuary in the State. However, the Yaquina
River drainage basin is not large compared with
other Oregon coastal rivers.
The lower freshwater inflow means that even
during the rainy winter, the bay is relatively salty.
This makes it possible for some plants and animals
that would die in freshwater to live year-round in
Yaquina Bay.
One such animal is the Pacific oyster. Oysters
are cultured in Yaquina Bay between Newport
and Toledo. Yaquina Bay also is home to many
kinds of fish, clams, crabs, and other species.
Various birds and mammals also use the estuary,
especially its productive tidelands.
Yaquina Bay is important to people, too. It
serves as the center for commercial fishing and the
forest products industry for the entire mid-coast
region. The city of Toledo is a regional center for
lumber processing, and Newport is the main city
for commercial and recreational fishing.
Newport is one of three deep-draft shipping
ports on the Oregon coast, receiving and sending
cargo to Japan and other Far East nations as well
as to other U.S. ports. Yaquina Bay is also a
popular recreation area for local residents and
visitors who come to enjoy the coast and the bay.
Newport's South Beach is the home of the
Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science
Center. The center is an important research facility
for OSU and several State and Federal agencies,
and home port for OSU's oceanographic research
vessels. The center also has a public aquarium,
coastal natural history displays, and public
education programs.
This publication tells a little about the Yaquina
Bay estuary, a few of the many species that inhabit
it, and places where visitors can go to fish, clam,
launch their boats, or just relax.
This publication was prepared at Oregon State University
by James W. Good, Extension resource management specialist, and Kathy Pete Newman, Extension project aide.
Artwork is by Jan Kerns; cover art is by Sharon Torvik.
Legend
Note that this list of activities and species covers
the entire Oregon coast. Some of them do not occur in
this area—so they do not appear in the map at the left.
X
Fishing
(Boat access unless otherwise noted)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Rockfish
Salmon
Perch
Flounder
Searun cutthroat
Crab
Bottomfish
8
9
10
11
12
13
Smelt
Herring
Striped bass
Shad
Steelhead
Sturgeon
Clamming
(Shore access unless otherwise noted)
G
L
B
C
Gaper
Littleneck
Butter
Cockle
S Softshell
P Piddock
R Razor
Q Birding
Q Wildlife areas
Camping
Picnicking
Marina
Boat launch
Hiking, beachcombing
Windsurfing
•y^ Point of interest
Tidal Marshes
Tidal marshes are the grassy
wetlands found along the shorelines and on low-lying islands in
Yaquina Bay. Nourished by a
mixture of fresh and salt
waters that flow over them
V.
at high tide, tidal marshes
are well-known for their
high biological productivity
"' \and for their value as
habitat for fishes, birds,
"'
and other wildlife.
-V ,
The unique plants that
grow in these marshes are
.;
specially adapted to the
twice-daily ebb and flood
-.. .^
of tidal waters. Different
tidal marsh plants
Tufted hairgrass
grow in different
(Deschampsia caespitosa)
locations, depending
on the particular environmental conditions at a
site. This means that there will be a variety of
tidal marsh plant communities in this and most
estuaries.
A plant community found in extensive areas
of Yaquina Bay is known as immature high salt
marsh. As "immature" implies, these areas are
still in the process of building up from lower,
less-developed marshes to higher, more mature
ones.
They occur just about at the level of the
average high tide and so are flooded at least
once a day. Well-defined drainage channels
are just beginning to develop in the immature high salt marsh. The characteristic group of plants that
^rf**-^ pflli
make up this community
includes tufted hairgrass (shown here),
salt grass, arrowgrass,
pickleweed, and
Lyngby's sedge.
California Sea Lion
Dungeness Crab
The Estuary
The raucous barking of "seals" often heard
in Yaquina Bay comes not from seals, but from
the California sea lion. Although closely related
to seals, sea lions are different—they can rotate
their hind flippers forward in order to walk on
all fours.
Sea lions also have external ears, while the
ears of seals are internal. One way to identify
them from a distance is to remember that only
sea lions float on their side in the bay with a
flipper extended in the air.
Earlier in this century, populations of the
California sea lion were reduced as they were
killed for oil and for dog food. Since 1972,
however, they have been protected under the
Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the
species has once again become abundant.
Male California sea lions come north to use
Yaquina Bay for feeding, and can be seen in the
estuary from August to April. During May
through July, the males migrate south to join the
females for breeding on small coastal islands off
Baja California.
Females remain in the
south to give birth to their
young while males return
north again.
California sea lions are
excellent swimmers and
divers, and fishes form a
large portion of their diet,
with lampreys, herring, and
rockfish being among the
most common species
eaten. Sea lions will also
feed on salmon when it's
available, which makes them
unpopular with fishermen—although many scientists believe they do not significantly affect the sports
or commercial catch.
One of the favorite sport catches in Yaquina
Bay and other Oregon estuaries is the
Dungeness crab, the familiar local species seen
in fish markets. While some of the crabs make
their home in estuaries, others live in deeper
water offshore and enter the bays to feed and
molt, especially in early summer.
Some of these offshore dwellers range
widely, sometimes traveling a mile a day. While
in bays, the Dungeness crab frequents protected
shallow pools, sand bottoms, and eelgrass beds.
It also may hide beneath the surface of the sand
with only antennae, eyes, and mouth protruding.
Crab is an opportunistic feeder, feeding on
most fresh food items it encounters on the
bottom, including some small clams.
In order to protect the ability of the population to reproduce, only males that are a certain
minimum size may be kept by crabbers. Males
can be identified by the narrow V-shaped abdominal flap on their underside—females have
a wide U-shaped flap.
Regulations on
size, seasons,
and bag limits
are published and
enforced by
the Oregon
Department
of Fish and
Wildlife—check
them before you
go crabbing.
An estuary, or bay, is a partially enclosed
coastal body of water, open to the ocean, where
freshwater from the land mixes with saltwater
from the sea. This simple meeting of fresh- and
saltwater results in a highly complex and
biologically productive environment for a
variety of plants and animals.
These organisms have special adaptations
that help them cope with the changing salt
content and the ebb and flood of tidal waters.
People have used estuaries for thousands of
years. Today, sport fishing, clamming, boating,
and other forms of recreation are popular here.
Estuaries are also important for shipping and
marine industries, and as homes for our fishing
fleets.
However, these uses are not always compatible with the natural environment. Space is
limited in Oregon's estuaries, and competition
for its use is keen.
Despite their small size, Oregon's estuaries
are important and valuable. They are critical to
hundreds of species of plants, birds, fish, clams,
crabs, and other animals.
California sea lion
(Zolophus cnlifornianus)
Dungeness crab
(Cancer magister)
$1.00
Yaquina Bay
Estuary Public Access Guide
•v .-r
Extension Service, Oregon State University, Corvallis,
O.E. Smith, director. This publication was produced and
distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8
and June 30, 1914. Extension work is a cooperative program
ofOregonStateUniversity, the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
and Oregon counties.
The Extension/Sea Grant Program is supported in part by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce.
Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational
programs, activities, and materials—witlwut regard to race,
color, national origin, set, age, or disability—as required by Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973. Oregon State University Extension Service is an
Equal Opportunity Employer.
f if Ail N irttPp rV -X
vlnitS l/i/fl f/jP Win
SG 84 • Reprinted January 1993
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
OCTENSION SGRVKie